Ban.dō

Here is the first of the random things I've pinned to my Chrome window this week intening to blog. Nothing particularly deep, given it's Election day I've had enough of party political broadcasts and trying to make up my mind which out of "Mr. Grumpy and the Smoothy Brothers," (Times Online) or indeed the various other parties I should vote for. Let's face it, most people are going to come out of the voting booth feeling ever so slightly grubby today.

Therefore to get past the grubby feeling let me start these posts with something very pretty from Ban.dō.

"Making fun for our heads," Ban.dō specialise in exotic and extravagantly decorated headbands and if you have beautiful hair like Alison Sudol (from A Fine Frenzy) they are the perfect accessory for making a bold statement. Designed by Jen and Jamie the three headband lines focus on delicate florals, feathery 1920's inspired exotica and contemporary pop culture designs which focus on sequined hearts, bows and colourful and even come with their own hiaku:

"Ban.dō love's fashion,

Dare to be adorable,

Candy for your hair."

Fascinators & hair accessories are something I've considered starting to try and design, this is thanks to a few pieces I've been making which could be adapted into such items and my little sisters continuous nagging for me to make her a hair band/slide/clip because she doesn't wear jewellery. Unfortunately, I have a fascination with fascinators but I'm too chicken to wear them!

via and my friends Fe & Cicely

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Listening: A Fine Frenzy - Whisper

Rebranding...

One of our first projects in uni as part of the Masters of Design was to brand ourselves. My friend almost took this literally and asked me if I would be willing to brand her body - I said I'd be willing to make the tool, but not to do it. I'm not embarrassed to say that I totally wimped out.

It's so important the brand we put across to define how we're seen. My jewellery has always been about being clean and simple, I like to keep things elegant. Something, though I only started this blog a few weeks ago, I don't feel it quite has. It feel clunky and rather than feeling quite mature and thought about, I feel childish and I think it's because of the nme and design I've put with it.

Therefore I'm contemplating a redesign, a rebranding if you will. There are many examples of rebranding you can see every day, for example the Shell Petrol logo, running from a very traditional and faithful depiction of a clam shell to the modern, simplified design we see today. Another example is Coca-Cola, who's product is recognisable simply many aspects from the vivid red and white colouring, the swirling logo and the shape of the bottle.

Branding and rebranding is everywhere and the evolution of the Coke bottle just shows how effective it is, as from 1915 onwards you can already, very clearly see the contour or hobble skirt, bottle shape which has become synonymous with the brand. It was designed by Earl R. Dean as part of a competition to design "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.(1)" Dean based the bottle on one of the main ingredients, coca, so used the pod form of the cocoa pod to inform his design. Nearly a hundred years later, the form's still there.

Sometimes rebranding is needed to improve a brand, sometimes just to make you feel more comfortable. It's no different than changing the way you dress, the content stays the same, just the outer layers change.

That's what may happen to this blog, I'm thinking about something a little bit different for the look, even a possible name/URL change - though I don't know how that works exactly - but the content will be the same...my inane whitterings and usual idiosyncrasies.

I need to think about...

Everbody's Free (To Parody)

A blatant parody of Max Ehrmann's Desiderata, not the first - Billy Connolly & Baz Luhrmann being obvious ones though it could be vaguely compared to the Trainspotting Choose Life speech - and it's not the last parody, but one I liked enough to save it in amongst some clippings for sketchbooks. I think it's sweet, and it's a clothing advert which (a) has no clothes in it and (b) tells you to be individual and buy things because you like them, not because they're fashionable. Even from Boden that's a change from the bombardment we usually receive of shops telling us what to buy to make ourselves fashionable.

Fashion is great, embrace it, chop and change it, mix it and "before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ... He's a mile away and you've got his shoes." - Billy Connolly's Desiderata

Baz Lurhmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)